Studying ancient - as well as medieval or modern - cities basically means telling local urban stories based on the reconstruction of changing landscapes through the centuries. Given the fragmentary nature of archaeological evidence, it is necessary to create new images that would give back the physical aspect of the urban landscape and that would bring it to life again. We are not just content with analyzing the many elements still visible of the ancient city. The connections between objects and architectures, visible and non visible buildings, which have been broken through time have to be rejoined, to acknowledge the elements that compose the urban landscape.
Landscape and its content are a very relevant and still vital part of any national cultural heritage. The course will introduce students to the way we have been reflecting on over the last twenty years and still are engaged with the study of the past of our cities, beginning from the most complex case in the ancient Mediterranean World: the core of Italy and of Roman Empire. On the other hand, knowledge means also preservation and defense of material remains and cultural memory.
“The Changing Landscape of Ancient Rome. Archeology and History of the Palatine Hill” presents to a large public the topographical lay-out of the most relevant part of the city (according the Greek and Roman Historians Rome was founded on the Palatine). Research developed on the Palatine since the end of last century by the team of Sapienza Classical Archaeologists opened a new phase in the urban archaeological investigation and in the scientific debate about the relation between archaeological features and literary tradition as well as the “correct use“ of both kind of evidence, key issues of wide archaeological and historical significance.

A

Complete, concise and precise. Very easy to understand and the professor is clear and suited for the position of teaching this course.

JQ

Jul 28, 2017

Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled Star

Very interesting course and much necessary to continue an interest I have in learning about Ancient Rome. Thanks so much!

Из урока

From a border land to the largest settlement in Latium (13th–9th cent. b.c.e.)

The whole story of city parts begins before the foundation of the city itself. In this module we will discuss how archaeological evidence and roman cultural memory allow to envision the faster and faster development from a number of dispersed peer communities to unified settlement, anticipating and somehow preparing the birth of the City.
By the end of this module you will able to:
- identify central Italian Bronze and Iron Age artifacts
- define and identify pre- and proto-urban topographical and social organization
- try to compare archaeological features and literary tradition

Преподаватели

Paolo Carafa

Prof.

Текст видео

[MUSIC] Hello, everybody, and welcome back. We know that Rome was born at the end of a long process, started in this area, around the middle of the second millennium. Now let's have a look of this region here, Latium, which is where Rome was actually founded. Latium is a large plain limited by a river here, the sea, and the Apennine chain, with a rocky massive here in the middle and this smaller chain here. Latini lived here and were surrounded by other Italian people like Hernici and Volsci here. In such an ancient times, these people were not able yet to write history, so we know what they thought about their origin are carved into their memories. For example, they believed that the first inhabitants in Rome were gods, a terrible god with two heads, Janus, here in this part. And a second god with a sickle here in this part of Rome. According to a different story, the people moved from the core of Italy into this plain. They were called the Aborigeni. It's a very a weird name. It doesn't mean anything, just the people who were there from the origin. The Aborigeni were there in the middle of Italy, then they moved down along the river valley and invaded Latium. At a certain time, a second group of foreign people moved from east here and sailed down to Italy. They were leaded by a nobleman, Aeneas, who had to fly away from Troy and carried his friends and his son here. Aeneas went along the river Tiber, then founded a new city here, Lavinium, then the Trojans mixed up with the Aborigeni and the new people was born, the Latini. The son of Aeneas moved here in the rocky massive and founded Alba Longa. The last king in Alba Longa gave birth to Romulus and Remus, the founder of Rome. So this is how the ancient people try to explain the origin of the city. And they also had also different stories for the same origin. For example, according to a different memory, Latium was divided in 30 regions. Some right here, you can see. They were 30 parts and each dot here represent the main village of this area. And these people were united by a rite, celebrated in this Sanctuary here near Alba Longa. As you can see here, the strange thing in that in the site where Rome will be founded, you have three of these groups, they were called people, populi in the Latium words. And this is how we can imagine by this, such an ancient time, the site of Rome, a wade on the river and the three groups and the top of each hills occupied by a village. Here you can see again a reconstruction of a possible, Distribution of these 30 people. One of the most important memories that the Latium people had, where the foundation meets of each city. As you can see in this chart here, each red square means that that city was believed to have been founded by an Alban or Trojan ancestor. If you compare the distribution of these populi and the foundation meet of the Alban origin, the overlays is almost absolute. So this is a way to understand how much of this memory can be reliable for us as a shared memory of a common people. If we look at the same problem from an archeological point of view, things are a little bit more complicated. We have no memories, we have just clues and artifacts to be analyzed and interpreted. Between the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age, that is around the 10th century BC, something is changing in the organization of the landscape in this area. In Etruria, for example, here, we have a certain number of small villages scattered around the river valleys and in Latium we have, as well, a certain number of small villages. This is the river Tiber, Etruria was there and this is Latium with the small villages. And this is the site where Rome is going to appear. In archaeological term, you can identify a certain area according to a certain culture on the basis of artifacts. On this table, you see the Latium vases which help archaeologists to identify the Latium culture. And this Latium culture spans from the end of the 10th century BC until the end of the 7th century BC. And this you can see, the changing of each shape indicates a shift in time. This is the first appearance of this Latium culture, you can see just very simple jug in clay. And most of the evidence we have comes from graves such as this one. No villages of this Latium culture has been largely excavated. We have just scanty remains of or clay floors. But the graves are very, Are so many that we can have a clear idea of the people who were expressing themself using the grave goods. And this is a tomb from Rome. And the body was burned, and the ashes were inserted in this large vase. And the other vases were put with the larger vase, which we called the urn, into a pit. These are other Latium tombs, with the urn here, with a lid, and other grave goods. Or this one, for example, for another site in Latium. This is a typical urn of Latium culture which was shaped like a normal heart. That's why it's called The Heart Urns. It was a way of symbolizing the staying of the deceased people in his own house. And this is how the heart urn was placed in the grave. One more tomb here. And one more again. Around 900 BC, a great change occur. The small villages are abandoned and people move to live together in fewer, larger size in Etruria here, as you can see. This is the Bronze Age phase and here's the Iron Age phase with fewer sites. On the left bank of river Tiber, we have no evident change. You know the distribution of the villages stays the same. The only difference is that here, when Rome is going to appear later, three, or two at least, are joined in one large settlement. And this is how the artifacts show us the changing in this period. Small vases are here with its handle over here. And once again here, these and these kind of jugs are now appearing for the first time. And there's another change. The bodies are placed in coffins and no more burned, so we don't have urns anymore, but graves. And more than this, people now begin to write. This is a vase dating back to the end of the 9th century BC with writings scraped on it. Or just symbols like this one on these axes found in a pit. A votive offering, maybe. When we move from the 9th century to the 8th century, changing in artifacts are even more evident. For example, with these new shapes here. Like this cup, this is intended to drink wine. And these dishes here, they are intended to eat meat. So the cultural habit is changing. We have weapons now in graves. And the so-called princely tombs appear now. So we have writings, we have weapons, we have metal, and we have a higher number of these grave. Something is changing. The small villages that were unified in one large settlement are now to be turned into a proper city with a political organization.